Portret van een vrouw met hoed en haarnet Possibly 1874

This small portrait of a woman with a hat and hairnet was made by Petz & Co. using photographic techniques, and mounted on card. Photography, like all forms of image making, is closely tied to the materials and processes that bring it into being. The choice of materials, like the photographic paper, impacts the image's tone and texture. The development process itself, involving various chemical reactions, imprints a unique quality onto each print. But photography also has a specific social context. In the 19th century, the rise of photography democratized portraiture. What was once a privilege of the wealthy, captured through laborious painting, became accessible to a wider public. Photographic studios like Petz & Co. were part of this shift, offering relatively affordable portraits to those seeking to document and preserve their likeness. Photography blurred the lines between artistic expression and commercial enterprise, reshaping our understanding of art and its role in society.